1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing system, a printing method, a printing apparatus, and a host apparatus for storing print data that has once been used for printing, and reprinting the print data.
2. Description of the Related Art
It typically takes time and effort to repeat collection of “a set of print objects”, such as a set of meeting materials created by various applications, a set of favorite photographs, or the like. In a printing apparatus, a function called repeat printing can be utilized in order to collect “a set of print objects” again. In repeat printing, print data that has once been used for printing is stored in, for example, a storage apparatus provided in the printing apparatus, and when the print data is printed again, the print data stored in the storage apparatus or the like is transmitted to a printing engine, which in turn performs printing. This repeat printing has the following advantages:
it may not be necessary to convert an electronic file in a host apparatus into print data when reprinting is performed;
it may not be necessary to browse an image to be printed using an application and perform trimming, correction processing, or the like, with respect to the image again;
it may not be necessary to open an electronic file and set print settings again; and
it may be possible to reprint electronic data (e.g., contents on a web when the contents on the web are printed using a web browser) that is an original of print data even when the original data has been erased.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-142657 discloses technology in which a plurality of pieces of print data stored in a printing apparatus are browsed from a host apparatus, the pieces of print data are grouped, and the grouped print data is reprinted, thereby providing “a set of print objects” again.
However, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-142657, the user needs to confirm the contents of print data stored in a printing apparatus and perform editing work for grouping the print data, which may be a large workload. Also, if there are many pieces of print data and these pieces of print data have slightly different print settings, i.e., are similar to each other, it can be difficult to confirm the contents of the pieces of print data and group the pieces of print data.